The Mind of Babington

Here's the link to my venture concept:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B45NL5S9VRkFa2N2elpHV2htUkk

Unfortunately I did not get any feedback on my first venture concept because I did not do one, but I did use the feedback I received from my other assignments to develop this concept. In particular, determining the pricing model and the break-even analyses were a major aspect of the feedback I received. In determining the pricing model, I ended up changing part of the business. Originally I would rent out the printers for a time and charge that way, but now I decided it'd be better to offer a submission option.

The main argument of this book is that companies, particularly those selling online through e-commerce, should not solely focus on the most popular products in the market. There is a very large array of products that are not well-known, but can be easily and cheaply distributed and sold at higher margins due to fewer competitors. The author states that including the long tail of products in one’s sales catalog will increase revenues and margins. This is mainly possible for e-commerce sales because they do not have to pay for expensive physical locations to sell these products.

The points made in this book enhance the entrepreneurial skills I’ve obtained from this class because it allows me to see even more entrepreneurial opportunities in our society. This book has taught me to look more into the competition and margins of a product or industry rather than just the demand. This is very helpful because it is easy to fall into the trap of seeing an item that is very popular and has very high demand, then assuming it will be a great product to sell. However, there will be many other competitors trying to sell that product as well, causing prices and profit margins to drop. If I will be selling any products in the future, I will definitely research heavily into the competitive landscape before choosing a product.

I would design some form of survey asking people about their hobbies and unique interests. I would then use this information to see what kinds of niche markets are currently being exploited successfully, and which niches are displaying an unmet need.

One of the most fascinating parts of this book was the emphasis on niche markets. Niche markets are small subgroups of the economy or society whose needs can be very specific. Historically, providing products to niche markets was much more expensive because it’s easier and cheaper to have generic-type products rather than very specific products, but it has also been much more difficult and expensive to reach these subgroups, and these extra marketing and storage costs outweighed the extra sales. However, with the advent of e-commerce, these problems are solved because we can now easily reach these subgroups with very little cost, and we do not have to worry about the expensive cost of physical stores.

Here's the link to my updated resume:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KU5BmFXIcJFVwmFm46iv34oUAoruDhAVW9ogB-6hO2c

This is the type of business I would love to expand and grow as much as I could, but if I were to receive a good enough offer in the next 5 years or so, I would highly consider it. I say this mainly because the main reasons I would start a business are to create financial security for my future, and in this case, provide an establishment that fosters the creativity of our society, especially the younger generations. That being said, if the people buying the company have a vision with which I agree and they offer an amount of money that will guarantee financial security, then I would consider selling the company.

My exit strategy hasn't really affected my idea for the company itself. I just plan to open one location at first in order to build the cultural foundation, then move on to building locations nationwide to provide a creative learning environment for individuals interested in engineering, design, and 3D printing in general.

There are definitely many areas in which I failed during this semester, but one example that comes to mind is the "crow" pose in yoga. I started doing hot yoga at the Orlando Power Yoga studio a few months ago to increase my flexibility, posture, and lower body strength. I still can't do the crow pose that well, but in the first few classes I literally fell on my face, but now a few months later I'm able to hold the pose for about 3-5 seconds on average. There's a picture of someone doing the crow pose below.

I've learned that in order to accomplish certain things, there are pre-requisites that must be met. In this example, I have to have certain levels of mobility and flexibility in certain areas of my body, core strength, and overall balance and body control. This idea reverberates to many other aspects of life. I already knew that a foundation must be set in order to build a strong structure, but this practice of yoga has made me look at this idea in a more practical way so I can take the necessary steps to build stronger foundations in all areas of my life.

I definitely see failure as being hand-in-hand with progress. I actually discussed this exact topic in my Portmanteau post. Here's the link:

http://damethestoic.blogspot.com/2016/06/to-benefail.html

Since I think of failure as a necessity of progress, I do not get very disturbed emotionally when I fail at something. This class has definitely reinforced my thoughts on failure as well, so I think I'm more inclined to take risks, especially since I believe that we should take more risks when we are younger because we just might hit a huge success, and also because if we take risks now and fail, we will have time to recover, so there will be no permanent damage. It's pretty much the same as the common principle used in portfolio management in which a financial adviser will suggest a certain level of risk depending on one's age.

Here's a list of some of the resources I have for my 3D Print Cafe:

1. I've spoken to several people I know who would be interested in providing capital to fund the idea, and a couple of these people were even interested in joining to help with the company. This financial capital will help the company turn from just an idea into a reality. It's not necessarily rare, and can be imitated.  - (financial capital)

2. One of my roommates and friends, Chris, is an entrepreneur himself, and he has a huge network in the central Florida area, especially among the main demographic I will be targeting. He would help spread the word for the company via social media, etc., and would definitely be able to get some people to come check out our establishment.  - (human/social capital)

3. My best friend, JD, is an amazing graphic designer. He can make very artistic and unique designs for anything from flyers to logos to apparel, and more. We could use digital flyers to promote on social media, and the apparel to sell in our location or use for "give-away" marketing campaigns. In addition, working closely with him would make it a lot easier to create the exact image I want for the company, and obviously I'll pay him for his time, but I'll get the best friend discount, of course. These services can be very expensive, and the communication can be very back-and-forth with the designers since edits will have to be made until the design is just right, so working with someone I know so well will not only save lots of money, but it will be a much more hassle-free process.  - (human/social capital)

4. My girlfriend would also be willing to help with the company. She graduated with a degree in Marketing and now works for a digital marketing company in downtown Orlando. She would help manage our image and gain more customers through various social media outlets, e-mail marketing, perhaps a blog, etc.  - (human/social capital)

5. One of my other roommates and friends, Aaron, is a very talented photographer and videographer. He would create promotional videos and photographs that we can use for advertising and marketing. He also knows how to do 3D Virtual Tours, the ones that can be found on Google Maps where you can virtually walk around a building and whatnot, so if people search us on Google, they can take a virtual tour of the establishment and see how it actually looks inside.  - (human/social capital)

6. Another resource that we have is our channel of distributors that we acquired in the 'Growing Your Social Capital' assignment. I was able to obtain inventory files with quantity and pricing from several distributors, so this will make it much easier to get the ball rolling once funding comes through. This isn't necessarily rare or inimitable.

7.  Our location can be seen as a valuable resource because this area of central Florida is surrounded by several large colleges. This is very valuable since our target demographic is mostly college students or younger. This is somewhat rare, but not necessarily inimitable.

8. One of my "capabilities" would be that I am very detail-oriented. With the type of atmosphere I wish to create, I believe the seemingly small details will play a large part in our success. I believe this is rare since I don't think anyone has the exact same vision of what I want to create, but perhaps after it has already been created, then it might be somewhat imitable, but not directly.

9. Another capability I have is that I am pretty experienced with creating and analyzing financial statements. This will allow me to closely monitor the results of our operations and marketing measurements and figure out where we need to improve or allocate more resources. This is somewhat rare and inimitable, but not very substitutable.

10. One thing that I guess I can consider as a beneficial resource is that I have a pretty good credit score. Apparently this could help show that I am responsible with money and could increase the chances of receiving business loans. This is somewhat rare, but not inimitable to non-substitutable.


I think the most valuable resource is the location because without our customers, the business would have no chance of prospering, and this location provides great access to many potential customers.